Skip to content

HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 Reviews

If you’re looking for an affordable, easy-to-use printer, then HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 InkJet printer is the right choice for you. The ink cartridges are cheap and will be delivered to your home for your first 2 months if you choose to enroll in HP Instant Ink uring printer set up. The best part is that the inkjet printers can produce fast professional-quality color for 50% less than laser printers, hence you get to save paper, and handle more tasks without slowing down.

You get many features at an affordable price, like wireless printing, two-sided duplex printing, color touchscreen, and many more. The paper tray is big enough to hold up to 250 sheets of standard letter-size paper as well as an automatic document feeder to quickly scan multiple pages of documents.

Specially designed for homes and small businesses, so you don’t have to worry about getting bad-quality printouts. Lastly, I’d say the features are absolutely great and the customer support is very good, but the main reason why someone should buy this is because of the price tag. HP printers are usually quite expensive but this one is around $50 cheaper than its close competitor HP OfficeJet Pro 8035e and it still packs plenty of great features.

Pros

  • There’s a flatbed scanner and an Auto Document Feeder.
  • Print speed is 20 ppm black and 11 ppm color
  • Easy Printing With Wireless Connectivity.
  • Very ideal for the Home Office and for Managing Small Businesses.
  • The Duplex Scanner feature Supports Auto Document Feeder.

Cons

  • Low on black and color page yields.
  • You can’t print 2″x3″ photos.
  • Could be less in weight.
  • No drum unit.
  • Color accuracy is not Premium.

Build Quality

The HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 is a very affordable, powerful, and productivity-focused printer. The build quality and the compact design with Jet Black color combination is the main attraction of this printer. They did a very good job by attaching a stan with the cartridge bay to keep it simple and accessible when loading paper and changing the cartridges.

If are looking for the downside, I found two actually. One is the scanner’s dampener is not that good, as a result, you have to glide it back down slowly or it will slam down. Secondly, the plastic that they used to show off their Jet Black color combinations, feels very gloomy after using it for a good amount of time.

Cartridge

HP OfficeJet Pro 6978’s cartridge feature will disappoint a lot of people. It can’t produce many black or color pages at once and you’ll need to replace the ink cartridges often, especially if you print a lot. But don’t expect that the cartridge will run out of ink before giving any alerts. It will let you know if the ink has any problem or if it is gonna be empty soon.

If you’re curious about the yield version, you can use both black and color cartridges. The HP 902XL black cartridge can yield 800+ pages and the HP906XL can yield 1500 pages. The color cartridge support only one version and that is the HP 902XL. Both the color and black cartridges can perform better.

Scanner features

HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 has some very cool features like a very good flatbed scanner with an Auto Document Feeder. While the flatbed scanner can scan thicker documents the ADF can scan double-sided documents automatically so that you don’t have to manually flip every single page.

Now, coming to the best part, where you can save your scanned documents as searchable PDFs with the built-in OCR feature so that you can easily search and edit the scanned text. It can also let you save your document as an RFT file so that you can easily use word processing software to modify the formatted text.

Printing Speed

The HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 isn’t very fast at printing black pages. While HP claims the black page printing speed is 20 PPM, in reality, it can print 10 black pages and 10 colored documents in under a minute. This is what you get from a flagship printer, but indirectly they force you to spend more to enjoy more speed.

Cost per print

The cost-per-print for the HP OfficeJet Pro is okay. The low page yields mean you’ll be replacing the cartridges often. If you print mostly in color it will add up quickly.

However, black-only printing will cost 0.125$/print, color printing is nearly 0.193$/print and photo printing will cost as much as 0.512$/print. One Black cartridge will cost 20.99$ and one color cartridge will take 40.99$ from your wallet.

How it performs in case of Family/Office/Student

Family use

The HP 6978 is a good choice for home use. It offers a low page yield, especially for black prints, but it might be suitable for casual photo prints if you don’t print many pages per week. In fact, it prints excellent-looking photos with decent color accuracy. It is able to digitize photos with a flatbed scanner with a high resolution and color depth.

Small Business/Home Office

The HP 6978 is a very ideal choice for small or home offices. You have to deal with low page yields, especially for black prints, and it’s slow at printing for an office printer. The first page takes an especially long time if you’ve left your printer idle for more than an hour. On the positive side, the 6978 has a lot of helpful office features, including automatic duplex scanning, faxing, and a built-in OCR.

Student

The HP 6978 is a decent printer for students. It has a flatbed scanner, an ADF that supports duplex scanning, and a few wireless connections that students need the most. But remember, it doesn’t support printing via Bluetooth, and who uses Bluetooth these days when it’s very easy to print directly from your Laptop? Sadly, because of the low page yield, you’ll have to spend a lot on cartridge replacements.

Comparison

Canon PIXMA TR8520 vs HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e
Canon PIXMA TR8520 vs HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e

The Canon Pixma TR8520 and the HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 are designed for small or home offices. They aren’t the absolute best of the best, but they’re both great buys.

For one thing, the Canon is a little easier to use, with its simple touch-panel interface. Its paper tray has an extra-wide opening and holds up to 150 pages, while the HP’s is a little smaller and holds only 100. But if you print only photos, the Canon will do a better job. It’s more accurate and has a larger color gamut, plus it has a bigger paper input tray.

On the other hand, if you’re a heavy photo printer, HP’s ADF lets you scan double-sided documents in just one pass. Also, its paper tray can hold up to 250 sheets, while the Canon’s is a little smaller and holds only 150.

The HP OfficeJet Pro 8025e and the HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 are both printers from the same brand and they are also the same series, but the OfficeJet Pro 8025e has just entered the market.

The 8025e yields slightly more pages at a lower cost-per-print, and it also takes less time to a single page after the printer has been idle for a while.

On the other hand, the 6978’s ADF scanner can automatically scan double-sided sheets, and its OCR is built into the printer instead of being part of the software.

Also, it prints many nicer-looking photos.

Most Commonly Asked Questions

Can HP Officejet Pro 6978 Print on Cardstock?

Yes, this model of HP Officejet Pro 6978 printer can print on cardstock. If you want to print on cardstock, you should use a compatible ink cartridge. This is because the HP Officejet Pro 6978 uses dye-based inks. It cannot print on 100% cotton or 100% polyester paper.

Can HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 Print Photos?

HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 can print photos, but it doesn’t offer a special feature for printing them. However, the printer can print photos from a digital camera or smartphone. If you want to print photos using the printer, you will need to connect your computer to the printer. Then open your photo software and print. Your photos will appear on the printouts.

Is HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 Compatible with Windows 10? 

Yes, it is compatible with windows 10. It is compatible with almost all printer software including windows 10, Linux, and Mac. It is compatible with almost all paper sizes and media formats such as pdf, epub, txt, etc. It is easy to use and has a very intuitive interface. It is highly recommended.

Is HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 Compatible with Chromebook?

The HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 is compatible with Chromebooks because the two devices are connected through a wireless network. This is the easiest way to print from a Chromebook. All you have to do is follow the instructions on your computer and the printer to make sure it prints correctly. You can even attach a memory card or USB device to your Chromebook so you can easily take photos and videos with your phone.

Is HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 Compatible with Mac?

HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 is compatible with both Windows and Mac operating systems. The HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 printer has a wireless network connection that allows you to print from your smartphone or tablet. It has a USB port, which makes it easy to connect to a computer. You can print from a wide range of mobile devices including iPads, iPhones, Android phones, and Samsung Galaxy devices.

Is HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 the Same as 6970?

The HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 and the HP OfficeJet Pro 6970 are the same product. Both printers have the same features, including automatic document feeders and the ability to print double-sided documents. The 6970 has a paper tray capacity of 150 sheets, while the 6978 has a paper tray capacity of 250 sheets.

Is HP OfficeJet Pro 6978 Compatible with Windows 11?

HP OfficeJet Pro 6980 is compatible with Windows 11, Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7, Windows Vista, and Windows XP.

This is a multifunction printer, that also does other things such as print, copy, scan, fax, and send email directly from any of the operating systems.